The Largest Square Inscribed in a Right Triangle
The legs' excesses over the square, multiplied together, equal the inscribed square's area
A page densely filled with mirror-script reasoning, with a small right-angle diagram at the upper right, on inscribing a square within a right triangle (an 'ortogonio'). Leonardo argues that when a square sits so that two of its sides lie along the legs containing the right angle and its opposite corner meets the hypotenuse, the amounts by which the triangle's legs exceed the square's sides, multiplied one by the other, yield an area equal to the inscribed square. He restates the theorem several times while seeking the greatest square the triangle can contain. The argument is purely geometric, treating the product of two lengths as an area.
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The greatest square inscribed in a right triangle
Leonardo places a square inside a right triangle ('ortogonio') so that two of its sides lie along the legs that contain the right angle and its opposite corner meets the hypotenuse. He asserts that the amounts by which the triangle's legs exceed the square's sides, multiplied one by the other, produce a surface equal in area to the enclosed square. He repeats the claim while searching for the largest square the triangle can hold.
